my small scale paradise

In Progress>>USS Enterprise>>Part 3

After a long and very slow progress, I finally have some updates on this massive build.

The color of USS Enterprise is unique. Even though it seems like an all around light gray in the movies or in the box art, when you take a look at the manual, there is this pattern and combination of light and darker gray. This pattern is known as the Aztec Pattern. Usually, a USS Enterprise kit comes with a big decals to create this pattern. Unfortunately, this one I’m building right here, have no decals at all T.T So I have to create the Aztec Pattern in any way possible.

The solution turns out to be: Lots of masking tape and lots of cutting those masking tape. As you can see in the above picture, it shows the upper side of the Saucer that has already being masked. I use two color for this build, Light Blue and medium Gray from Tamiya Spray Can.

After I spray Light Blue color as the base color, I cover it all up using masking tapes, and then, (the frustrating part) cutting the masking tape carefully using design knife to the exact pattern as shown in the manual. After finished with the masking, I use Tamiya Spray Can again to get the job done. This time, using Medium Gray which is a darker color.

I must admit that even though airbrush is the best thing in scale modelling, sometimes it’s the old-fashioned spray can that could get the job done a lot faster😀 Tamiya spray can is not your usual spray paint anyway. It is designed for painting small scale models, therefore it have small nozzle that helps you not to over spray you model kit. After the second layer is dry, it’s finally time to uncover all the hard work🙂

I’ve tried to use hand brushing to create this pattern, but I have to drop it since it is difficult to achieve the satisfying result with my current hand brushing skill and much or less the same in terms of time consumption.

And that is only the upper part of the Saucer…still got the lower half, an Battle Hull to do with the same method T.T

That is the lower part of the Saucer in progress right there😀 As this post is being made, I’m still not done masking the surface. So I better be back on working on it. See ya later folks ^^

Thanks guys😀 you really make all the hard work worth it ^^
I have to admit that this one is the hardest kit to paint so far though. I kinda miss the simple one tone paint like my previous tanks now LoL